BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – EVERY YEAR, THE BUFFALO OLMSTED PARKS CONSERVANCY PUTS MORE THAN 10,000 NEW PLANTS IN THE GROUND …
in the parks and traffic circles around the city, and they all start in the greenhouses at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park.
“We are a month ahead of everybody else, so spring has already appeared,” said Jeffrey Krajnik, the head grower in the MLK Jr. Park greenhouses. “Most of the trees and shrubs that we winter over, and perennials, have started growing.”
Many of the annuals that were planted as seeds in the greenhouse in January have started growing, too.
Crews are busy this time of year sowing thousands of seeds, transplanting and replanting, to make sure all the plants are ready to go into the ground around the city in May and June.
We continued our Buffalo Behind The Scenes series in the greenhouses Monday morning to show you what it takes to get the plants ready. Watch the videos below to see our full coverage.
Krajnik says it is rewarding to see the plants around the city when they’re in bloom. “It’s beautiful, it just adds a pop of color,” he said. “It just makes you enjoy the parks more.”
“It’s something everyone should be proud of. I consider us to be the curb appeal of Buffalo,” added Stephanie Crockatt, Executive Director of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.
It takes a ton of work to make that possible, though, and the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy counts on community members to help.
“We have over 850 acres of parkland and we have a very small staff, so when you realize that we have 2,000 volunteers that give us the ability to maintain these areas, it makes it a much easier lift on the Conservancy,” said Andrew Lloyd, Community Outreach Manager for the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. “So community members, they can take pride in their park, they can help out. They can help plant things and really contribute to not only the health but the green infrastructure that makes our city as great as it is.”
The city has even more to celebrate this year, marking the 150th anniversary of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted coming to Buffalo to begin designing our award-winning parks system.
The Olmsted Parks Conservancy has a full schedule of events lined up in honor of the anniversary.
Click here for details about the 150th anniversary.
“We would love to see as many people as possible out in the parks this year,” Crockatt said, adding that they’d like to see more people get involved, as well. “I think years ago, people were a little bit more hands on in the parks, but as our maintenance efforts get a little bit more detailed, we can always use more volunteers, from planting flowers to helping with learning how to trim shrubs and rose bushes, even painting benches and just getting involved and making the parks theirs.”
To learn more about the Buffalo Olmsted Parks system and how you can help, go to https://www.bfloparks.org/
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Source: http://wivb.com/2018/03/12/buffalo-behind-the-scenes-buffalo-olmsted-parks-conservancy/
